Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the threat to the UK posed by IS.

I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Home Office.

JTAC raised the threat level on 29 August from SUBSTANTIAL to SEVERE. That means that a terrorist attack is highly likely, but there is no intelligence to suggest that an attack is imminent. The increase in the threat level is related to developments in Syria and Iraq where terrorist groups are planning attacks against the West. Some of those plots are likely to involve foreign fighters who have travelled there from the UK and Europe to take part in those conflicts.